Chinese smartphone company Huawei on Sunday unveiled its first foldable smartphone at Mobile World Congress, the Huawei Mate X.
“The Mate X uses what Huawei calls a “Falcon Wing” design with a stretchable hinge that allows the smartphone to transform from a 6.6-inch OLED smartphone to an 8-inch OLED tablet, making it bigger than Samsung’s recently introduced Galaxy Fold,” Juli Clover reports for MacRumors. “Huawei designed the Mate X to fold in the opposite direction of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, so the display is visible on both the front and back of the device when collapsed down to smartphone view. The ‘wing’ at the side houses the camera and allows the Mate X display to be notch free.”
“When folded, it measures in at 11mm thick, but when open, the device is just 5.4mm thick,” Clover reports. “There’s a multi-lens Leica camera included, and the design of the Mate X allows for the front and rear cameras to use the one camera system for selfies and rear-facing images of the same quality.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: While certainly better than Samsung’s Galaxy Fold which now looks to everyone like the failed prototype that it is, the concept of a folding smartphone is obviously still a work in progress.
We’ll see a mess of weird attempts before Apple shows how it’s to be done, as usual. — MacDailyNews, January 23, 2019
As with fingerprint and facial recognition, when Apple debuts a foldable iPhone, then foldable smartphones will have been done right. — MacDailyNews, January 17, 2019
SEE ALSO:
Concept design envisions what a foldable iPhone would look like – February 23, 2019
One of the main problems with Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is that it doesn’t really fold – February 22, 2019
Most analysts expect Apple to wait until 2020 to offer a foldable iPhone – February 21, 2019
Samsung announces foldable 4.6- to 7.3-inch ‘Galaxy Fold’ phone with giant off-center notch, starts at $1,980 – February 20, 2019
Xiaomi reveals dual-folding smartphone prototype (with video) – January 23, 2019
Samsung’s foldable Galaxy phone will cost ‘twice the price of a premium phone’ – January 18, 2019
Lenovo planning to resurrect Razr as a foldable $1,500 cellphone – January 17, 2019
Corning’s bendable Gorilla Glass glass could shape the foldable phones of the future – December 6, 2018
Can foldable phones help Samsung copy Apple? – November 7, 2018
Apple granted a second patent for a folding iPhone with flexible hinge – October 16, 2018
Apple gets 49 new U.S. patents including a foldable iPhone and an iPhone design invented by Steve Jobs – September 4, 2018
BoA Merrill Lynch: Apple is prepping a ‘foldable’ iPhone; U.S. and China trade tensions not an issue for Apple – March 23, 2018
Apple seeks patent for a foldable iPhone – November 28, 2017
Apple teams up with LG Display for foldable iPhone due to concerns over tech leaks to Samsung – October 11, 2017
Apple, LG Display discuss OLED display deal for 2019 – September 7, 2017
LG Display to supply OLED panels to Apple – July 31, 2017
Apple to invest $2.70 billion in LG Display’s OLED production – July 28, 2017
Apple and LG Display plan to derail Samsung’s OLED expansion plans – July 25, 2017
LG Display to invest $3.56 billion in flexible OLED plant – May 30, 2017
Apple patent details foldable iPhone – January 26, 2017
Apple granted U.S. patent for bendable or foldable iPhone using advanced carbon nanotube structures – November 1, 2016
Apple is granted another patent for new flexible handset design – November 22, 2016
I guess a $1,000 phone doesn’t seem so ridiculous any more, huh? Can you imagine the uproar if Apple created a new phone at a $2,500 price point?
Many vendors make for a more diverse environment. There are myriads of choices. Single controlling vendors solutions, not so much.
Where’s Apple’s foldable phone so we can compare value propositions? Heck, where’s the SE2?
You are locked in and by necessity more loyal.
Yes, I am locked in by hate and by necessity more loyal to hating Apple with every fiber of my being
You’re adorable!
Don’t you worry these phones will be cheap compared to Apple when they finally release one
Outward folding was tried by Samsung and discarded. Obviously Huawei stole the tech and implemented a solution full of holes and question marks. In the absence of any case, the friction of sliding this phone in and out of your pocket (let alone dropping it), would cause premature damage to the already fragile plastic screen.
The Samsung design may be bulky and have a notch, but it looks as though it could withstand a good drop and obviously the folding screen will be protected. The price is also ludicrous. Good thing the Mate X will only be sold in China.
Apple should stay away from this costly rediculous gizmo.
Good luck finding a protective case for that thing. At $2K+, you will want to use one
Perfect example of most wall street analyists
And my point being ALL new technology has influence whether good or bad. This high-priced beginning may evolve into something incredible (think an SE that unfolds to a Plus that unfolds to an iPad…) OR it may show that consumers prefer something else, either way the experiment is knowledge unfolding (pardon the pun).
Exactly correct. For all the “when Apple releases it, it I’ll be right” that we hear from MDN and others, how much of that is Apple letting others make mistakes, learning from them, and then saying they’re smart.
They ARE smart, but not in the way they say.
Wow – AU$3,621.59! Probably more like $4000 after all the god-knows-what is added (as it always is).
For that price – for an Android device – they should include a couple of weeks with the girl in that last promo image.
Don’t forget, you get free snooping from Communist China for only $2,600. For now, I’m gonna stick with my “hobbled-by-privacy” iPhone, thank you very much!
Over a decade ago Apple realised putting a plastic screen in your pocket was a bad idea.
Is there really a use for these devices. People like big screens to watch video, but all your video now is 16:10 or 16:9 meaning that on these very expensive toys a video wont really be any bigger when unfolded then with an iPhone the same size (folded)
Without Gorilla Glass (or in fact any glass) surely the scratches will make it illegible in days, without a man-purse.
All i know is that at $2600 it had better durable as h*ll. What is the repair cost when someone inevitably drops it? I can’t see this product taking off initially at that price point. Maybe once they slash the price by half imho. Otherwise i like that someone pushing the envelop even if is a clumsy attempt. Maybe it’ll get Apple off their arses..
Huawei’s flip phone adheres more closely to its common flip phone roots than Samsung’s because of the raised edge.
The OS to drive these new devices have to be upgraded to be more in tune with what screen is active and when (which is far beyond Androids current pay grade).
Actually the latest version of Android is said to support rearranging the items and apps displayed when the display size is changed as with new folding devices. Google does talk with their OEMs to make sure only relatively minor HW innovations slip through unsupported.
There was a relatively recent article – in the past year or so – that somebody stole Samsung’s information regarding their folding display technology. The information was sold to a Chinese company. Guess we now know who. (Not that I feel bad for Samsung in the least.)
I do wonder who REALLY invented fireworks, paper, and gun powder though.
Anyone else notice that they don’t mention battery life anywhere but just that it can charge 85% in 30 minutes? I’m guessing the battery life is about an hour or less.
Oh, and the 5G spyware is free!
Why on Earth does anybody need a folding phone? Another stupid project by idiots. I give it a year and the fad will be done, and the suckers that buy into this deserve to loss their 2K. Shit.
Why on Earth does anybody need a folding phone? Another stupid project by idiots. I give it a year and the fad will be done, and the suckers that buy into this deserve to lose their $2K.